Momentary
by myInkyFingers
Summary: The original Team 7. They were there for a moment. And then they were gone.


A/N : Slightly Sakura-centric.

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto.

* * *

><p>They had always been different. Since the beginning. And not because one of them was one of the three surviving members of the Uchiha clan, or because the other was the hated and feared Jinchuuriki of the village, or because the third was almost a civilian, but because since its inception, Team 7 had been ridden with problems and issues and hopes and dreams that were fantastic and dangerous. Then, it had seemed impossible that this group of people so radically different from one another could ever work together.<p>

But they had managed, for a while, to resemble a functioning unit. They even got to the point where they could have become the strongest team of rookie ninja that year – if that team had remained. That one photograph of all of them together had captured everything perfectly – Naruto and Sasuke, contrasts, tied together in a powerful, volatile friendship, Sakura cheerful and as yet ignorant of the magnitude of what she was a part of, Kakashi, looking over all of them.

It was this photograph Sakura thought of, as she looked down at the mangled remains of what had been _her team_.

Not much later after that picture was taken, Sasuke left carry out the decision he had taken at the age of eight.

In the months that followed the disastrous attempt to bring Sasuke back that had almost killed Naruto, his decision to train properly with Jiraiya, Sakura's own determination to _do_ _something_ and subsequent apprenticeship under Tsunade, they never had much of a chance to do anything together.

When Naruto came back three years later, everything had changed. Everyone had grown up, and much to his horror, everyone except him had become Chunin. Everything seemed to have changed – except for the fact that neither Naruto nor Sakura had forgotten what could have been and were still fighting to bring Sasuke back – even though their efforts seemed more and more futile.

Jiraiya had warned Naruto that the Akatsuki would come after the Jinchuuriki – but it became far too real when Gaara actually got attacked (and killed and then brought back to life). He had warned Naruto that it was already too late for Sasuke, that it would be better for everyone if he let him go. But Naruto had never been one to let a friend sink, and to let _Sasuke_ alone was the blasphemy of the highest order.

Their first clue that Sasuke might be too far gone should have been at Orochimaru's hideout, when he declared that he didn't mind if Orochimaru took his body, as long as he got his revenge. Sasuke, once so proud and unbending, now seemed to have no problems with getting used – literally.

Sakura had almost given up hope the last time she saw him, at the Kage summit. He had scared her then. He had been as cold then and he had been in the Forest of Death, three years ago, under the influence of the Curse Mark. But now the Curse Mark was gone, and this was all Sasuke. He tried to kill Karin, Sakura, Kakashi and Naruto, all once part of his team.

Sakura remembered how happy she had been to be placed on the same team as Sasuke. She knew Ino would be jealous, and for the first time in her like, Sakura would have what Ino didn't. During and after the Chuunin exam, she was beginning to see that people were started to see even Naruto as a force to be reckoned with, and she felt definite pride mingled with the feelings of insecurity she had always felt. They were a _good_ team. They were a _strong_ team. She was worried about the ever growing friction between Naruto and Sasuke, but that didn't change the fact that for the first time in her life, she was a part of something. She knew that the other teams worked together better than theirs, that the others didn't seem to be constantly falling apart (or needing help, or trying to kill each other). But maybe they could be a real _team_ after all.

And then Sasuke left, and reality came crashing down.

In retrospect, it _would _have been better for everybody if the two of them had let him go. So much time expended into something that was becoming more and more like a black hole pulling them in and killing them.

Naruto especially.

Sakura had witnessed for herself what lengths Naruto would go to, when it came to Sasuke - evidenced by how Naruto had let himself get beaten up by the two Kumogakure ninja. Kakashi had told her later what had happened on the way to the Kage Summit. The confrontation with the Raikage, and then later Gaara, telling Naruto that the only thing that he could do for Sasuke now was the only thing he had never considered.

The Fourth War seemed very distant now, as Sakura looked down at the mangled remains of what had been _her team_. She couldn't remember why she was here – probably in search of more ninja to heal more ninja, as the war was drawing to close, and the injured became fewer; they must be winning. She couldn't remember why Naruto was here, even though he had told her the reason; probably to chase after Madara, even though the person they thought was Madara was a complete mystery again. She had no idea why Sasuke was here. Maybe he had finally joined the war, or maybe he had heard about Itachi, or maybe he had some completely different reason of his own. Kakashi was absent from the scene, but it seemed apposite – he had always arrived last whenever the team gathered. They were all together and broken and bruised and battered.

Because Naruto and Sasuke had fought, and come so close, _so close _to killing each other. In fact, they might have succeeded. She had stayed out of this fight, not because had she wanted to, or because she had been afraid. But because she knew this was _their battle_. It had to be like this, just them. At one point, she could have sworn that for some reason, the bitterness had gone out of the fight, that it had become more of a friendly spar than ever – and then suddenly they were lying several feet apart. Sakura looked at her ex-team mates, fallen, bleeding, dying, and she realized it no longer matter. The result was the same. She was losing them. She remembered that day when she had wondered whether she would ever have to face this situation and what choice she would make when she did.

She still didn't know. But she didn't have to choose. Like always, someone else made the choice for her, and she was saved the chance of having to do something painful. The Kyuubi was healing Naruto's wounds, slowly but completely. Even the colour was returning to his face. So she turned to the other person, the one she had fallen in love with eight years ago. She still loved him as much as she had on the night left Konoha – and his happier life – forever, but she couldn't feel anything right now. She had once sneered at Kabuto for never having felt anything, for only understanding _cold logic_, but now her own mind ticked just as coldly, as she appraised the damaged, as her hands followed the commands of her brain.

She felt nothing as she healed him, useful in doing something for him for the first time in her life. She felt nothing as she realized that his wounds were too severe, that it might not be possible to save him.

She thought of all that _was_ and all that _could have been_. Sakura thought inexplicably of that one photograph of all of them together in their Genin days.

Team 7. Team Kakashi. They had been there for a moment. And then they were gone.

* * *

><p>Done!<p>

This has been sitting on my computer for _ ages_ and I have no idea why I didn't put it up for dissection earlier.

Anyway, please review!


End file.
